YOU'RE ASKED TO CALL THE CRIME LINE AT 1-800-423-TIPS. ALSO BREAKING TONIGHT, WE HAVE CONFIRMED THE WAR VETERAN WHO MURDERED HIS SISTER AND TWO OTHERS HAS DIED IN A HOSPITAL IN TENNESSEE AFTER A S.W.A.T. TEAM TOOK HIM DOWN INSIDE THIS HOTEL. DEPUTIES SAY DAVID SMITH WAS SHOOTING AT THEM BEFORE HE SHOT HIMSELF. THE TAKE-DOWN HAPPENED IN THE MIDDLE OF A DAYS INN IN KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, SOME 600 MILES AWAY FROM A HOME IN THE LAKELAND AREA WHERE POLK COUNTY DEPUTIES FOUND THE THREE PEOPLE SHOT TO DEATH. LOCAL 6'S ERIK von ANCKEN JUST TALKED TO FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE VICTIMS. DEPUTIES TELL US DAVID SMITH WAS VERY ANGRY WHEN HE WAS LIVING HERE IN THIS HOME, BUT NOT THE OTHER TWO PEOPLE WHO LIVED HERE, HER SISTER AND HER FRIEND, APPEARED HAPPY. THE TWO WERE CLOSE. YOU CAN TELL THAT FROM THEIR FACEBOOK PAGES AND THEY WERE WELL-LIKED. YOU CAN ALSO TELL THAT FROM THE COMMENTS, THINGS LIKE "GOD CALLED HOME SUCH A SWEET AND BEAUTIFUL COUPLE." BOTH WERE MURDERED INSIDE THIS LAKELAND HOME INCLUDING THEIR FRIEND. HE WENT TO CHURCH, HUNG OUT WITH FAMILY AT TIMES, AT TIMES CERTAIN FRIENDS. BUT HE WASN'T ABOUT NO DRAMA OR BAD GUY AT ALL. ONE POSTED ON FACEBOOK HOW SHE HOPED TO MAKE PLANS WITH HER BUDDIES ON SATURDAY NIGHT WHEN THE TRIO WAS MURDERED, ACCORDING TO DEPUTIES. THE NEXT MORNING, A NEIGHBOR CHECKED ON THEM BUT ONLY A DOG CAME TO THE DOOR. HE WAS JUST BARKING, BARKING, BARKING, AND HITTING HIS HEAD AGAINST THE WINDOW. I SAID GO GET YOUR MAMA. GO GET YOUR MAMA. HE WAS JUST BARKING, BARKING, BARKING. NOBODY CAME TO THE DOOR? NO. NOBODY CAME TO THE DOOR. IT WASN'T UNTIL MONDAY NIGHT HER DAUGHTER CAME HOME TO THE HOUSE AND DISCOVERED HER MOM AND FRIENDS WERE SHOT TO DEATH BY HER UNCLE, DAVID SMITH, SAYS THE POLK COUNTY SHERIFF. I CONSIDER HER EXCEPTIONALLY LUCKY SHE WASN'T IN THE HOUSE THIS WEEKEND. BECAUSE AT THAT POINT IN TIME, HE KILLED EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE, AND I HAVE NO REASON TO BELIEVE HE WOULD HAVE SPARED HER LIFE HAD SHE BEEN THERE. THE SHERIFF SAYS SMITH, AN IRAQI AND AFGHANY WAR VETERAN SUFFERED FROM POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AND WAS PARANOID AND DELUSIONAL, ACCORDING TO THE RANTS ON HIS FACEBOOK PAGE. THE DEPUTIES WERE HEADING TO TENNESSEE TO FIND OUT WHY SMITH WAS SO ANGRY AND TO FIND OUT WHY

LAKELAND, Fla. -

A man wanted in connection with a triple murder in Central Florida has died after being taken into custody Tuesday afternoon in Tennessee, officials said.

David Eugene Smith, 27, was taken to a hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a SWAT standoff at a Days Inn in Knoxville, according to officials.

Knox County Sheriff's Office said Smith had died just after 5:30 p.m. at the UT Medical Center. An autopsy for Smith is scheduled for Wednesday.

Quick Clicks

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said earlier in the day that Smith shot and killed three people, including his sister, at a home on Old Highway 37 near Lakeland.

"We found him," Judd said earlier, referring to the SWAT standoff in Knoxville.

Judd said a 14-year-old ROTC student returned from a weekend event Monday night and found her mother's body in their Polk County home. Authorities were alerted and the other two bodies, a man and a woman, were found inside the home.

"It was a very violent scene," said Judd, who added that the triple slaying could have occurred as early as Saturday night.

Judd identified the victims as David's sister, Danyala Smith, who was the teen's mother; Ni'Kosi Williams, of Lakeland; and 28-year-old Miranda Mims, a friend of Danyala.

Judd said Smith, who goes by the name Davey, has a history of mental illness, adding that Smith is paranoid and delusional. Smith's mother said her son served in the Army and had tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and suffers from PTSD.

Detectives were told that Smith refers to himself as "Prince David." Judd said Smith had posted, "I hate evil and will not allow it on my planet," on his Facebook page.

"We fear for the community until we find this man," Judd said earlier Tuesday morning in a news conference. "This suspect has taken the lives of three people and we need to find him before he harms anyone else."

The SWAT team in Knoxville launched tear gas into Smith's hotel room and took Smith down. Smith shot himself in the arm, Tennessee authorities said, indicating that he wanted to commit suicide.

According to jail records, Smith was arrested in 2009 on charges of cocaine possession, carrying a concealed weapon (firearm), marijuana possession and narcotic equipment possession. The firearm and cocaine possession charges were dropped, however.

Judd also said that Smith was taken into custody under the Baker Act, or the Florida Mental Health Act, by local police once before.

Judd said the 14-year-old girl who found her mother dead is doing as well as can be expected.

"I consider her exceptionally lucky she wasn't in the house this weekend," Judd said. "At that point in time, he killed everyone in the house, and he wouldn't have spared her life if she wasn't in the house."

Watch Local 6 News and stay with ClickOrlando.com for more on this story.

Copyright 2014 by ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Comments

The views expressed are not those of clickorlando.com, WKMG or its affiliated companies. This is a community moderated forum (Please note the 'Flag' button). By posting your comments you agree to accept our Terms Of service